The Secret to Happiness

Apr

25

2022

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Apr

25

2022

April 25, 2022 – Click here to listen

I received the following email from a reader. I edited it some to shorten it a little:

“Dear Bob,

Your story reminds me of one of mine . . . I grew up in the rough areas of Chicago. Our family lived in constant physical and emotional abuse . . . In 1967 I went to a college near Mexico City that accepted high school graduates with low GPAs.

Mexico City is around 7,000 feet above sea level. There’s a mountain rim surrounding the city that’s around 10,000 feet. So, the smog sat heavy on it. My fellow students and I ate poorly, smoked cigarettes and weed, and would get sores on our bodies and lung infections. So, every month or two, we’d head to the coast for a weekend where we stayed in a 50-cent-a-night hotel. There we would get sunshine and saltwater that healed our lungs and sores.

The first time we drove through the mountains I saw super poor peasants who glowed with a degree of happiness and contentment that I’d never seen. That, combined with the beauty of the mountains, made me cry. The memory stuck with me and set me on a long search for the secret to their happiness.

As time progressed, I went homeless for several years and often went on long binges whereby I ingested hard drugs, (orally and intravenously).

During this period, I wandered in and out of various religions and communes. In 1974, I met Jesus, which marked a new life for me. I didn’t know that God would use a dark religious cult to introduce me to Jesus, but He did. Their preaching was from the Bible. Their lifestyle though seemed superficial. My father died with a bullet in his head and the cult taught me that emotions were sinful, so I stuffed my grief. The church was going through a split that divided families. I placed a heavy lid over my heart and just held it in and played the religious imposter game for the next 26 years. I didn’t know any better.

I got married and over 14 years we had 9 children. I found much of my solace and Jesus through my labor which was woodworking. We lived in the poorest county in Tennessee and had to raise and can our own food, make our own clothes, and cook, can, and bake bread on a wood stove in a house with no insulation or plumbing.

Over 40 years our small business that started with nothing grew into a $12 million company with 80 employees. I didn’t know anything about running a business, so in desperation, I turned to the Bible and prayer. We saw many miracles of changed lives. We did it without debt, hired unemployable people, and were featured in the news several times.

Last year through a hostile family takeover by 2 family members, I lost it all.

I still dream about the joy those poor peasants had. I still dream about God using me to help broken people become whole.  For now, I’m the broken one. Yet people say that even my brokenness ministers to them.”

My response was as follows:

Sounds to me like you have had a triumphant life. You have overcome so much to reach the point in which you currently find yourself. Use it to minister to others who are going through trials and impart the lessons you have learned to them. The most important things are found in a loving relationship with God. It’s not in the rags or the riches, those things are merely temporary. It is only through Jesus Christ that the secret to happiness can be found. The poor peasants and the kingmakers of the world can only know peace through the hope of Jesus and the promise He offers.

You found that out.

While family and friends may fail you, Jesus is always there with His unconditional love to turn you away from your sadness, loneliness, and disillusionment, whether you live in a pigsty or gold gilded mansion.

He has a purpose for your life. Go and tell your story and stay away from self-pity. I talk of the horrors I went through as a younger man only to give perspective to the power of Jesus to transform lives. If He could transform my life from my desperate condition, I’m confident He can change anyone. Make Jesus your focus my dear friend.

Phil. 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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